Rafael Nadal's journey back to the "right path" of his career was cut short by Italy's Fabio Fognini.

Nadal is confident that he is on the path back to his great winning ways. However, his latest comeback fell flat on the defense of the Rio Open title no less, dropping the match to Fognini.

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The loss ends an impressive record in the ATP Tour semifinal matches on his preferred surface, clay. Over 12 years, he had amassed over 52 straight wins to reach the title match.

Fognini ended Nadal's streak in three sets, 1-6, 6-2, 7-5. The Italian tennis player will advance to meet another Spaniard, David Ferrer, in the finals match on Sunday.

The momentum that has carried Nadal's illustrious career forward was halted in 2014 with injuries and illnesses.

Afterwards, he was never quite the same coming back as he lost the first round in Qatar and the quarterfinals of the Australian Open as well.

However, Brazil was expected to be Nadal's salvation. The world's number three tennis player entered the tournament as a heavy favorite and was expected to repeat last year's performance.

Coming into the game, Nadal had a pristine record of 4-0 against Fognini.

The first set of the game came easy enough for Nadal, coming out strong and winning easily.

The second set saw a much more aggressive Fognini though who forced a third and final set.

With Nadal trailing 5-6, Fognini whipped up a rally that saw him convert the match point. The victory came after two hours and 17 minutes.

Fognini was ecstatic with the win, due the fact that he beat the best player on the clay surface.

It is back for the drawing board for Nadal who is still working on returning to his winning ways.

He heads for the ATP clay court event in Buenos Aires, Argentina to prepare for the looming 10th French Open at Roland Garros later this year.

Tagsrafael nadal, Fabio Fognini, atp, tennis